Album Review: Power Through Terror by Great American Ghost (Entertainment One)

Boston based metalcore heavyweights, Great American Ghost, have released their new album, Power Through Terror. Power Through Terror was released on the 14th of February via Entertainment One.

Great American Ghost have made a name for themselves by being “the angriest band of all time” according to some sources. Their hardcore based upbringing mixes with metal power to form, in theory, a mesmerising mix of two aggressive genres. Greayt Americna Ghost are a 4 piece with Ethan Harrison on vocals, Niko Gasparrini on guitars, Joey Perron on bass and Davier Perez on drums. Power Through Terror is the band’s 3rd full length release following Everyone Leaves (2015) and Hatred Stems From the Seed (2017).

Power Through Terror is a pretty short album being 10 tracks or 33 minutes of music. That’s not a bad thing in this case. Not because it’s bad, just because it lacks in variety and another 10 or 20 minutes of the same thing would have damaged it. Predominantly operating in the “core” area, Power Through Terror becomes a bit of a box ticking exercise for fans of metalcore/deathcore. Again that sounds like a complaint but it isn’t completely.

The boxes that require ticking to create a strong metalcore song aren’t all bad. We have plenty of hard hitting, crunchy riffs. Plenty of aggressive strained vocal shouts, politically charged lyrics, powerful speed drumming, some punchy breakdowns and of course more melodic choruses. All things I am a fan of in metal. So what’s the problem? Well it’s just that it’s all been done before, many, many times. It’s a genre that desperately needs an injection of something new and exciting. Unfortunately this isn’t it.

There are a few moments on Power Through Terror that threaten to do something different. Take the track Socialized Animals. That track has a go at being different. The tempo in the intro gets close to thrash, we get a wicked little solo and some decent invention with cleans and gang vocals. Not quite original but it stands out for good reasons. Scorched Earth fades in a wicked guitar melody before jumping straight in with vocals. Again hardly brand new but on an album where everything has followed a similar pattern, it switches things up enough to keep your interest. Warborn isn’t a bad song either, the chorus is probably the best on the album and it has some absolutely brilliant lead guitar work. Closing track, No More, comes a close second on banging choruses but they follow some monotonous verses lessening the impact.

Outside of these good or great moments there is a whole lot of okay. Pretty much every song including Rat King, Prison of Hate, Power Through Terror and Scorched Earth start with a crunchy riff that you will enjoy because it feels safe and comfortable. Mostly because you will feel like you already know it. The vocals are strong throughout but often just utilising the same tone, pitch and style throughout. Backing vocals drop in when they would be expected to. The lead guitars drag some melody in with the choruses to elevate them a little. Although used sparingly, choruses occasionally bring in a little clean singing too.

Prison of Hate, Altar of Snakes, Power Through Terror, Black Winter, Scorched Earth, Warborn and No More also end with the same idea and occasionally similar sounding breakdown that sees the band slow things down, chuck in some technical off tempo drums and load up the bass. All good stuff but also amazingly repetitive over such a short album.

Great American Ghost have released a solid but unspectacular album in Power Through Terror. It’s completely capable, technically proficient and enjoyable for what it is but what it is, is metalcore by numbers and music that has mostly been done a thousand times already. There are little moments that shine through in tracks like Socialized Animals or Warborn that suggest they are capable of much more. Let’s hope they find the courage to break out of some of the genre chains for future releases.

You can pick up a copy of Power Through Terror from here.

Great American Ghost Links

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